The invention relates to an environmentally sealed multichannel fiber optic connector.
The use of optic fibers for signal transmission is well known in the art. Optic fibers offer the advantages of low signal attenuation, increased bandwidth, and immunity from electrical and magnetic field interference. The fibers themselves vary in size from 0.002-0.010 of an inch in diameter; and many fibers, each carrying a separate signal, are often bundled together into a single cable.
While it is often desirable to be able to break a fiber optic cable and then reconnect the individual fibers together again--for instance, when changing equipment which is attached to the cable or when ducting the cable through a bulkhead--such separable connectors for optic cables present a myriad of problems. Since the individual optic fibers in the cable are of such small diameter, it is imperative that any connector which is used rejoin the severed fiber ends in exact alignment; or substantial signal attenuation will result. A pair of cylindrical ferrules or sleeves is often used as part of a separable connector for optic fibers; but because of the small diameter of the fiber itself and of the bore in the ferrule which receives the fiber, the exact alignment of the bores in two abutting ferrules is very difficult to achieve.
One commercial approach taken by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company ("AT&T") involves the use of a two-part rotary splice which is manufactured and sold as one piece and is split into abutting halves by the customer. During the manufacturing process, the two joined parts are formed with a common bore which insures concentricity of the bore through the length of the parts. Each part is provided with a keying means, and a splice holder also sold by AT&T receives the parts in only one angular orientation due to the presence of keyways in the holder. As a result, the two splice parts may be separated from one another and thereafter rejoined; and because the same angular orientation between the parts is always used in the rejoining process, accurate alignment of the bores in the two splice halves is insured. In spite of these advantages, the AT&T unit is not a separable connector but rather a box-shaped splice fixture which does not lend itself to separation and a reconnection of optic fibers in the field by untrained personnel, nor is the fixture environmentally sealed.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for a environmentally sealed multichannel fiber optic connector which may be easily disconnected and reconnected by unskilled personnel and which insures accurate alignment of the reconnected fiber ends.